“By getting pupils to open up about their home lives, I discovered that many of my students come from crowded homes where multiple families share a single property,” said Mrs Zafirakou.

“In fact it’s often so crowded and noisy I’ve had students tell me they have to do their homework in the bathroom, just to grab a few moments alone so they can concentrate.

“I also found that some were being forced to play truant to cook meals in the allocated time slot they were permitted to use their shared home kitchen.

“Others could not participate in extra-curricular activities after school because they had to take on parental responsibilities like collecting their brothers and sisters from other schools,” said Mrs Zafirakou.

Raising status of teaching

In response, she organised extra lessons during the day and the weekend, including giving pupils a quiet place to work.

She had learned basic phrases in the 35 languages spoken by pupils at the school and helped teachers work with other services, such as local police and mental health specialists.

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Bill Gates said that education provided the “master switch” for progress in society

The finalists have been drawn from more than 30,000 nominations in 173 countries, with the top 10 coming from schools in countries including Brazil, Australia, Colombia and South Africa, as well as the UK’s representative.

The competition is intended to raise the status of the teaching profession and Bill Gates pointed to the importance of their work.

“When you think about what drives progress and improvement in the world, education is like a master switch – one that opens up all sorts of opportunities for individuals and societies.

“And research has shown that having a great teacher can be the most important factor that determines whether students get a great education,” said Mr Gates.

Sunny Varkey, whose foundation set up the annual international teacher prize, said he wanted the finalists’ stories to “inspire those looking to enter the teaching profession” and to “shine a powerful spotlight on the incredible work teachers do”.